June Travis

June Travis
File:Ceiling Zero (1936) 2.jpg James Cagney and June Travis in Ceiling Zero (1936)
Born	June Dorothea Grabiner (1914-08-07)August 7, 1914 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Resting place	Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago
Other names	June Travis Friedlob
Years active	1935–1965
Spouse(s)	Fred Friedlob (1940–1979;his death)

June Travis (August 7, 1914 – April 14, 2008) was an American film actress.

Background

Born as June Dorothea Grabiner, she was the daughter of Harry Grabiner, vice-president of the Chicago White Sox in the 1930s.

She had dark brown hair and green eyes. She stood 5'4" tall. She attended Parkside Grammar School in Chicago and later UCLA. When she returned to Illinois she matriculated at the University of Chicago.

Marriage

On January 3, 1940, June married Fred Friedlob. They had two daughters, Cathy and June. Friedlob died in May 1979 in Chicago.

Screen actress

With comedian Joe E. Brown in Earthworm Tractors (1936)

A Paramount Pictures vice-president noticed her in Miami, Florida at a White Sox exhibition game. He offered Travis a screen test when she came to Pasadena, California, where the major league baseball team trained. The first time she was presented with a screen contract, she suffered from screen fright and turned it down. She returned to Chicago and school. The next winter she accepted a film studio offer in Palm Springs, California. Travis made her screen debut in Stranded (1935), a film which starred Kay Francis and George Brent. She played the role of "Mary Rand". She followed this with a part in Not On Your Life (1935), with Warren William and Claire Dodd. Howard Hawks directed her in Ceiling Zero (1936), a Warner Bros. feature. In preparation for her role, Travis learned flying, navigation, and parachute jumping from Amelia Earhart. The aviator gave her instructions in September 1935. The film stars James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Also in 1936, she portrayed secretary Della Street to Perry Mason as played by Ricardo Cortez in The Case of the Black Cat.

File:Ceiling Zero (1936) 1.jpg

Travis (second from right) with Pat O'Brien, Martha Tibbetts, James Cagney and Stuart Erwin in Ceiling Zero (1936)

She was Ronald Reagan's leading lady in his first movie, Love Is on the Air, in 1937.

Her most notable film role was likely in The Star (1952) starring Bette Davis.

Travis became known as the Queen of the B-movies on the Warner Bros. lot. Later, she said that if she had remained in Hollywood two more years, she would have been a star. However, following three years, she came home to Chicago for Christmas with her parents. She did not return to making motion pictures. Travis stopped regularly appearing in films after 1938, though she made minor appearances in The Star and Monster a Go-Go.

Radio

Travis played Stormy Wilson Curtis in the radio soap opera Girl Alone and Bernice in Arnold Grimm's Daughter, another soap opera.

Stage actress

By the late 1970s, Travis was performing on stage. She admitted that the transition from acting on film was a difficult one.

Death

Travis died at the age of 93 in 2008 in a hospital of complications from a stroke she suffered weeks earlier. She was buried in Chicago's Oak Woods Cemetery.

Filmography

• Stranded (1935) with Kay Francis and George Brent
• Don't Bet on Blondes (1935)
• Broadway Gondolier (1935)
• Bright Lights (1935) with Joe E. Brown
• The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935)
• Shipmates Forever (1935) with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler
• Dr. Socrates (1935) with Paul Muni
• Broadway Hostess (1935)
• Ceiling Zero (1936) with James Cagney
• Times Square Playboy (1936) with Warren William
• Earthworm Tractors (1936) with Joe E. Brown
• Bengal Tiger (1936) with Barton MacLane
• Jailbreak (1936)
• The Big Game (1936)
• The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
• Join the Marines (1937)
• Circus Girl (1937)
• Men in Exile (1937)
• Love Is on the Air (1937) with Ronald Reagan
• Over the Goal (1937)
• Exiled to Shanghai (1937)
• The Night Hawk (1938)
• The Kid Comes Back (1938)
• Over the Wall (1938)
• Go Chase Yourself (1938) with Lucille Ball
• Marines Are Here (1938)
• The Gladiator (1938) with Joe E. Brown
• Mr. Doodle Kicks Off (1938)
• The Night Hawk (1938)
• Little Orphan Annie (1938)
• Federal Man-Hunt (1938)
• The Star (1952) with Bette Davis
• Monster A Go-Go (1965)

References

• Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Actress looks back at what might have been", April 23, 1977, p. 16
• Los Angeles Times, "Wrong Sex For Baseball, Girl Turns Actress", April 15, 1935, p. 19
• Los Angeles Times, "Another Society Bud Lured To Movies", April 20, 1935, p. 13
• Los Angeles Times, "The Pageant of the Film World", April 27, 1935, p. A9
• Los Angeles Times, "Kirkland's Troth Seen", August 20, 1935, p. A1
• New York Times, "Screen Notes", September 21, 1935, p. 18
• New York Times, "Miss Earhart Teaches Aviation", September 26, 1935, p. 25
• Chicago Tribune, "June Travis Friedlob 1914 ~ 2008", April 16, 2008

External links

• June Travis at the Internet Movie Database
• June Travis at the TCM Movie Database
• June Travis at Virtual History